I remember watching this movie for the first time and my heart feeling so excruciatingly heavy. This movie, released back in 2013, tells the story of Oscar Grant and the events leading up to his death at the hands of the police in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2009.

I saw this before I actually began to unmask the complexity behind the events that transpired. A black man being killed in cold blood by the police seemed like a singular event – a refuge from any sort of pattern or system. All I knew was that I was confused, and enraged for that matter. How was this outcome even possible? What made it go from point A to point B? How could the police knee him in the head, forcefully pin him face-down onto the platform, while unarmed and handcuffed, AND STILL feel threatened?


The deeper I dug, the more I realised how insanely intertwined society is with racism and how entire police organisations are founded on anti-blackness. And then my mind wandered some more. What about the countless deaths that were not captured on tape? The lives that were effortlessly swept under the rug? And what of the murderers? They rest in comfort behind badges, protected by a criminal justice system designed against the lives that they keep ruthlessly taking.



In Ryan Coogler’s powerful debut, Oscar is portrayed through an objective eye in his final hours. We see him as a vulnerable, flawed, respectable and loving character, but most of all, we see him as human – a representation of black men that we rarely see in pop culture. Despite being human, he was handed a fate that characterised him as anything but. This has been the reality for black people for decades. The only difference is that it is finally coming to light. Due to social media, we are finally waking up to see that slavery and oppression against black people never disappeared, it just got camouflaged and redesigned to fit modern-day society.



It is our duty as allies to stay aware and educated and help in all the ways we can. Don’t let privilege or ignorance blind you from reality. Black lives still matter even if you don’t see it on your feed anymore.

Kristal Dela Cruz